MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman met with members of the media on Thursday at the Vanier Family Football Complex prior to the Wildcats’ Big 12 opener at Oklahoma State . Links to video of both press conferences are above, and a complete transcript is below.
COURTNEY MESSINGHAM, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On playing both quarterbacks against Oklahoma State...
“Yeah, I think so. I don't know when exactly, but I expect Jaren (Lewis) to play and Will (Howard) will start it, and we'll kind of go as it goes. I think it brings a good dynamic, and Jaren has done a nice job and has put himself in a position to keep getting some opportunities.”
On the play of quarterback Jaren Lewis against Nevada…
“I thought he did well. I thought he didn’t get rattled. He managed the situation well. We even went one time where we kind of went in an up-tempo mode on him and he handled it really, really well.”
On the progression of quarterback Skylar Thompson…
“I think he's doing great. I can't tell you that I think he's going to be ready tomorrow or two or three weeks from now, but his ability to move around and throw the football, I've been happy with.”
On if he expects Oklahoma State to use multiple fronts...
“Oh definitely, definitely, especially with the age. They have a defensive end that has played a bunch that really understands the game, so they will be in four-down personnel and line up in three-down looks. They'll put him in as a linebacker stood up. They'll slide him back out and play as a rush end even though he's in a two-point stance. So, we'll see multiple looks. We've got to do a great job handling that.”
On the offensive line responding after Josh Rivas went out for a few plays against Nevada...
“Josh, obviously, is a huge deal for us because he's been playing extremely well. I think I talked last week even about just probably he's played the best football of all of them, but we keep hammering those guys on. It's kind of the next guy up, and if you're called upon, you've got to make sure you go in and do your job and everybody's got to count on you. It was good to see us really do a good job on a number of series of finishing plays, finishing drives, moving the chains. Probably the best thing that we did was stay out of third and long even though we weren't totally where we didn't have any third longs. Compared to the first two weeks we were much more third and manageable.”
On the need to throw the football more...
“Oh, 100%. I told the wide outs right when the (Nevada) game got over, ‘We're not going to beat Oklahoma State, we're not going to beat Oklahoma, we're not going to win in the Big 12 throwing the ball 13 times.’ Now, we called more than 13, but because of the pressure that Nevada brought, the number of times they blitzed, we had a number of run checks against the blitzes. So, we didn't want to drop back or even run some nakeds against their pressure. We thought we could handle them. We could pick up the blitzes better in the run game – we felt like – than we could in the passing game. I anticipate we will throw the ball much more than we did last week.”
On Will Howard being able to make checks this year...
“Honestly, not saying he wasn’t able to do it last year because he could, but to the extent he was able to do it this past game, I’m not sure he missed one of their pressures. Meaning, I’m not sure he was caught off guard whether it was getting the protection the right way or saying, ‘Hey, wait a minute. We need to get out of this and run the football.’ Collin (Klein) could tell you the total number that he had, but he probably checked us 15 times in that game because of pressure.”
On Will Howard facing a hostile environment this weekend...
“It's interesting. You don't think about it, but because of last year, this is really the first time he's been in a hostile environment. Being on the road in the Big 12 – or really anywhere where you're going to have fans getting after you – whether you're down in the red zone, whether you're coming out, whether it's third down. Your ability to handle it and still communicate is a huge key, and I think he'll handle it well just because he's pretty mature for his age.”
On running back Deuce Vaughn...
“I really believe that he doesn't care whether it's in the run game or in the passing game. ‘If I get an opportunity, I'm going to try to make the biggest play.’ I think the thing that's helped him though is having Joe (Ervin) play as well as Joe has, has allowed Deuce to do two things. One, get a little bit of a break and get a mindset where, ‘I can see how the defense is playing from a different perspective.’ But then also just getting some rest. I hope that we continue to play – shoot – I hope we play at least three tailbacks each week and have legitimate carries by all three of them.”
On Joe Ervin against Nevada...
“I think that as I talked a little bit last week. He just runs so much more violent straight downhill and slides off people more than really juking them or making them miss as much as he just slides off an edge and runs through arm tackles. He's got to keep doing that for us because it gives us a little bit of a different tempo when he's carrying it than when Deuce (Vaughn) is carrying it.”
On Joe Ervin complimenting Deuce Vaughn in the backfield...
“That's one of the things is, as we keep going into the Big 12, we're going to have to do more and more of what we call ponies, which is two tailbacks in the backfield. Just because Joe is a legitimate run threat, and then, somebody has to go figure out where Deuce is at just because his abilities from his skill set allows you to be a receiver as well.”
On Jacardia Wright’s role in the offense...
“Needs to keep doing that. He probably weighs 20 more pounds than either Deuce (Vaughn) or Joe (Ervin). I thought two weeks ago he had a couple of good runs. I think that he’s going to keep coming along. I think the biggest thing is being that much more comfortable being in the stage that he’s in and us having that much more confidence that he’ll handle that stage. The more chances he’ll get the better he’ll do.”
On confidence in Will Howard and Jaren Lewis throwing the football...
“Oh, I’m confident. The reason I am is I believe our wide receivers trust those guys, and trust is the biggest part of having a really, really good passing game. It’s the quarterbacks and receivers on the same page – tight ends included, obviously – that they trust each other and are going to make plays for each other.”
JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On how difficult it is to prepare for Oklahoma State considering they’ve played a different style this year...
“You took the words right out of my mouth. Yeah, it's been a really weird week. I think with all the injuries that they've had, they've had a tough time establishing the identity that they want to establish. Week one without Spencer Sanders, then receivers in and out, tailbacks in and out, it's been a challenge to try to corral. We're going to have to be very, very sharp within the game.”
On the Oklahoma State running backs...
“They got a stable of tailbacks. I tell you what, I'm very impressed with how those guys run, how they keep their feet moving, and how they run through contact. The vision that they have. Those guys are excellent, excellent players.”
On the early success of K-State’s run defense...
“The attitude that we're starting to develop with it is our guys are doing a good job of not allowing themselves to be blocked, of staying alive. We use the term, ‘changing the math.’ Sometimes, when you get things drawn up offensively, you can maybe get a hat on a hat. Sometimes it takes somebody with a superhuman effort to change the math, so to speak, on the grease board. We're doing that, by and large, with a lot of guys.”
On replacing defensive end Khalid Duke...
“Well, Khalid has been in so many roles for us. We've used him as a linebacker. We've used him as a defensive end. So, it's going to be replacement by committee. It's going to be Nate Matlack to a degree, Spencer Trussell to a degree when it comes to the defensive end stuff. That's going to be Ryan Henington, Wayne Jones when it comes to some of the linebacker stuff. They've been doing that, so I feel comfortable with all of those guys.”
On the key to success with the 4-3 and the 3-4...
“I think everything comes down to situational football. I think that's the bottom line. Everything we look at throughout the week is just situations, how we want to play those situations and what personnel gives us the best chance in all situations.”
On the three-man front being effective against the run...
“Well, at the end of the day, it's all a numbers game. At the end of the day, we're just trying to outnumber them at the point of attack with everything that we're doing – run game or pass game. Sometimes the presentation can look a little bit different in some of the three-down stuff and gives you a lot more flexibility to look different ways than the four-down stuff does when you have to kind of tilt your hand a little bit. That was the main idea behind it. It was designed for the RPO teams, and, the next thing you know, a guy raises up and throws an RPO glance into somebody that standing right there in the glance window. That scares some teams into making them a little bit more one dimensional and forcing them to run the football. Now we can tee off on that.”
On the play of Reggie Stubblefield against Nevada...
“Reggie has been awesome. Reggie had a dynamite week of preparation. We knew he was going to play a lot. We made the decision to use him as the SAM linebacker so that we can play a little bit more man and do some different things with him against a team that we thought was going to throw the ball a little bit more. He's very comfortable in the box. He's very good as a blitzer. The more he learns and the more he gets around here, he's going to be a bigger and bigger impact as the season goes on.”
On the challenges Oklahoma State quarterback Spencer Sanders presents...
“For years he's been a guy that's been giving guys like me headaches, just keeping plays alive, he’s got a good arm. He's been in this system, he understands what he's doing, and they're intelligent how they use them. I think that they're going to have to run him a little bit. We're gearing up for that as much as we can. Sometimes it's the non-designed runs that give you the most fits. The quarterback scrambles, the draws when they spread you out, those kinds of things that keep you up at night, because he's a difficult guy to get his hands on. He's a strong runner, and he can beat you in so many ways. Yeah, he's the deal.”
On how many players he expects to see getting to the ball...
“Eleven. Short answer, 11. Yeah, that's it. That's the mentality we're trying to get established.”
On the defense taking pride in getting everyone to the ball...
“Seriously, we emphasize throughout spring and throughout fall camp to try to get that mentality. I think guys take pride in that right now. When you look at some of the effort plays that we've made – I'll give you an example, the Jaylen Pickle interception a couple of weeks ago. That was one of the best plays I've ever seen for a lot of reasons. First of all, it's just the intelligence of Ryan Henington to get that ball up in the air and keep it alive, but Jaylen Pickle just being in the vicinity, a defensive tackle being out on the numbers to make that play. It doesn't happen when guys are standing around watching the game. That happens when guys are screaming the football, and that's what makes it really cool.”
On Ryan Henington’s value...
“He's been in the box. He's been out of the box. We use him sometimes differently on third down because he can flat run. He's smart enough and cares enough to learn a bunch of different spots. He can, athletically, do a lot of things. He's a guy that can play man coverage if we need to. He’s done that stuff before. Really, we used him and Reggie (Stubblefield) a little bit last week interchangeably. We weren't afraid to replace a man when he was out there, whether it was tight ends or receivers. So, his versatility makes us better.”
On last week’s excessive celebration penalty...
“I don't know, I think I was excessively celebrating at the same time, so I don't know if I saw it. We want our guys to have fun. We want our guys to set an NCAA record for fun playing football, but at the same time, we've got to be intelligent in how we're doing it. This isn’t the National Football League. We can't run over there and carry on. So, from now on, we're going to have that same amount of fun, but we're going to do it on our sideline where it's safe.”
On the fine line between having fun and excessive celebration...
“At the end of the day, when guys are celebrating together, I think it's a great thing. I think when guys are individually making a spectacle of themselves, I don't know if that's what college football is about.”
On the performance of cornerback Tee Denson...
“Tee’s been awesome. He's been getting better and better. As he gets more and more confidence, he's going to play a lot more. His technique has been good, his physicality is so much improved. His understanding has always been very good. He's a super intelligent football player. I'm glad we've got him for a long time to come here.”
On his views on the transfer portal...
“I got a couple of different opinions on that. Obviously, it's been good for us, and I think the reason that it's been good for us is because Coach Klieman is such a good judge of character. There’s good and bad to that. I'm sure there's some people that had some transfers that they picked up that are just now rearing their ugly heads, maybe their true identity. I think the true identity of our guys is they're superb people, and they make us a lot better in the locker room and on the field.”
On Oklahoma State wide receiver Brennan Presley...
“They're going to use him all over the place. He's a guy that's going to get a number of touches. He's a difficult guy to get your hands on in man. He's got speed to get over the top of you. He reminds me a lot of Phillip Brooks and what he does for our offense. Obviously, had a play a year ago that we missed them in the backfield for what I guess, ultimately, was the winning touchdown. We're going to have to try to throw a lot of people around him.”
On the hostile environment in Stillwater...
“You just go. I'm hoping that our guys are so focused on the task at hand and just executing their stuff one play at a time that it can be in Hell and it doesn't matter. We're going to go out there and try to do our thing.”
On saving some blitz packages...
“Yeah, again, situational football. It’s going to dictate what we do and how we do it. We've got a lot of a lot of stuff in the cache. If that's what you're asking, we do.”
On if Khalid Duke has responded well with his injury situation...
“Yeah, he has, and Khalid’s so good as a teammate. He’s obviously upset just because he cares and wants to be out there and wants to help us, but he is. He understands the situation that he's in. Don't enjoy it, but he understands it. He's going to work to get back. I think he's seeing the success of guys like TJ Smith that have had that similar type of thing and are now back performing at a high level. I think that's the goal for him.”